Society in the
Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was
supposedly based on the strict class hierarchy originally
established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The
warrior-caste of samurai
were at the top, followed by farmers, artisans, and traders. The
inflexible nature of the Social stratification system unleashed
disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at
fixed amounts which did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value.
As a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners
were worth less and less over time. This often led to numerous
confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and
well-to-do peasants, ranging from simple local disturbances to much
bigger rebellions. None, however, proved compelling enough to
seriously challenge the established order until the arrival of
foreign powers.

Toward the end of the 19th century, an alliance of several of
the more powerful daimyo with
the titular Emperor finally succeeded in the overthrow of the
shogunate after the Boshin
War, culminating in the Meiji Restoration. The Tokugawa
Shogunate came to an official end in 1868, with the resignation of
the 15th Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu and the
"restoration" (Ōsei fukko) of imperial rule.

Government

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Shogunate
and domain

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu

The bakuhan taisei (幕藩体制) was the feudal political system in the Edo period of Japan. Baku, or "tent," is
an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning "military government" —
that is, the shogunate. The han were the
domains headed by daimyo.

Vassals held inherited lands and provided military service and
homage to their lords. The Bakuhan Taisei split feudal power
between the shogunate in Edo and provincial domains throughout
Japan. Provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an
independent administration of the Han in exchange for loyalty to
the Shogun, who was responsible for foreign relations and national
security. The shogun and lords were all daimyo: feudal lords with their own
bureaucracies, policies, and territories. The Shogun also
administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the
House of Tokugawa. Each level of government administered its own
system of taxation.

The Shogun had the military power of Japan and was more powerful
than the emperor, who was a religious and political leader.

The shogunate had the power to discard, annex and transform
domains. The sankin kōtai system of alternative
residence required each daimyo would reside in alternate years
between the han and attendance in Edo. In their absence from Edo it
was also required that they leave family as hostages until their
return. The huge expenditure sankin-kotai imposed on each han
helped centralize aristocratic alliances and ensured loyalty to the
Shogun as each representative doubled as a potential hostage.

Tokugawa's descendants further ensured loyalty by maintaining a
dogmatic insistence on loyalty to the Shogun. Fudai daimyo were
hereditary vassals of Ieyasu, as well as of his descendants. Tozama,
or "outsiders", became vassals of Ieyasu after the battle of
Sekigahara. Shinpan, or "relatives", were
collaterals of Tokugawa Hidetada. Early in the Edo period, the
shogunate viewed the tozama as the least likely to be loyal; over
time, strategic marriages and the entrenchment of the system made
the tozama less likely to rebel. In the end, it was the great
tozama of Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa and to a lesser extent Hizen
that brought down the shogunate. These four states are called the
Four Western Clans or Satchotohi for short.

The number of han (roughly 250) fluctuated throughout the Edo
period. They were ranked by size, which was measured as the number
of koku that the domain produced
each year. One koku was the amount of rice necessary to feed one
adult male for one year. The minimum number for a daimyo was ten
thousand koku; the largest, apart from the shogun, was a
million.

Shogun and
emperor

Despite the establishment of the shogunate, the emperor in Kyoto was still the legitimate
ruler of Japan. The administration (体制,taisei
?) of Japan was a task given by the Imperial Court in Kyoto to the
Tokugawa family, which they returned to the court in the Meiji
Restoration.

The shogunate appointed a liaison, the Kyoto
Shoshidai (Shogun's Representative in Kyoto), to
deal with the emperor, court and nobility.

Shogun
and foreign trade

Foreign affairs and trade were monopolized by the shogunate,
yielding a huge profit. Foreign trade was also permitted to the Satsuma and the
Tsushima domains.

The visits of the Nanban ships from Portugal were at first the main vector of
trade exchanges, followed by the addition of Dutch, English and
sometimes Spanish ships.

From 1603 onward, Japan started to participate actively in
foreign trade. In 1615, an embassy and trade mission under Hasekura
Tsunenaga was sent across the Pacific to Nueva
Espana (New Spain) on the Japanese-built galleon San Juan
Bautista. Until 1635, the Shogun issued numerous permits
for the so-called "red seal ships" destined for the Asian
trade.

Institutions of the
shogunate

Rōjū and
wakadoshiyori

The rōjū
(老中) were the senior members
of the shogunate. They supervised the ōmetsuke, machibugyō, ongokubugyō
and other officials, oversaw relations with the Imperial Court in Kyoto, kuge (members of the nobility),
daimyo, Buddhist temples and
Shinto shrines,
and attended to matters like divisions of fiefs. Normally, four or five men held the office,
and one was on duty for a month at a time on a rotating basis. They
conferred on especially important matters. In the administrative
reforms of 1867 (Keiō Reforms), the office was eliminated
in favor of a bureaucratic system with ministers for the interior,
finance, foreign relations, army, and navy.

In principle, the requirements for appointment to the office of
rōjū were to be a fudai daimyo and to have a fief
assessed at 50 000 koku or
more. However, there were exceptions to both criteria. Many
appointees came from the offices close to the shogun, such as soba
yōnin, Kyoto shoshidai, and Osaka jōdai.

The wakadoshiyori were next in status
below the rōjū. An outgrowth of the early six-man
rokuninshū (1633–1649), the office took its name and final
form in 1662, but with four members. Their primary responsibility
was management of the affairs of the hatamoto and gokenin, the direct vassals of the shogun.

Some shoguns appointed a soba yōnin. This person acted
as a liaison between the shogun and the rōjū. The soba yōnin
increased in importance during the time of the fifth shogun Tokugawa
Tsunayoshi, when a wakadoshiyori, Inaba Masayasu, assassinated Hotta
Masatoshi, the tairō. Fearing for his personal safety,
Tsunayoshi moved the rōjū to a more distant part of the castle.
Some of the most famous soba yōnin were Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu and Tanuma
Okitsugu.

Ōmetsuke and metsuke

The ōmetsuke and metsuke
were officials who reported to the rōjū and wakadoshiyori. The five
ōmetsuke were in charge of monitoring the affairs of the daimyo,
kuge and imperial court. They were in charge of discovering any
threat of rebellion. Early in the Edo period, daimyo such as Yagyū
Munefuyu held the office. Soon, however, it fell to hatamoto with rankings of
5000 koku or more. To give them authority in their dealings with
daimyo, they were often ranked at 10 000 koku and given the
title of kami (an ancient title,
typically signifying the governor of a province)
such as Bizen-no-kami.

As time progressed, the function of the ōmetsuke evolved into
one of passing orders from the shogunate to the daimyo, and of
administering to ceremonies within Edo Castle. They also took on
additional responsibilities such as supervising religious affairs
and controlling firearms. The metsuke, reporting to the
wakadoshiyori, oversaw the affairs of the vassals of the shogun.
They were the police force for the thousands of hatamoto and gokenin who were concentrated
in Edo. Individual han had their own metsuke who similarly policed
their samurai.

San-bugyō

The san-bugyō
("three administrators") were the jisha, kanjō,
and machi-bugyō, which oversaw temples and shrines,
accounting, and the cities, respectively. The jisha bugyō
had the highest status of the three. They oversaw the
administration of Buddhist temples (ji) and Shinto shrines
(sha), many of which held fiefs. Also, they heard lawsuits
from several land holdings outside the eight Kantō provinces.
The appointments normally went to daimyo; Ōoka Tadasuke
was an exception, though he later became a daimyo.

The kanjō bugyō were next in status. The four holders
of this office reported to the rōjū. They were responsible
for the finances of the shogunate.

The machi bugyō were the chief city
administrators of Edo and other cities. Their roles included mayor,
chief of the police (and, later, also of the fire department), and
judge in criminal and civil matters not involving samurai. Two
(briefly, three) men, normally hatamoto, held the office, and
alternated by month.

Three Edo machi bugyō have become famous through jidaigeki (period
films): Ōoka Tadasuke and Tōyama Kinshirō as heroes, and Torii Yōzō
as a villain.

The san-bugyō together sat on a council called the
hyōjōsho. In this capacity, they were
responsible for administering the tenryō, supervising the
gundai, the daikan and the kura bugyō,
as well as hearing cases involving samurai.

Tenryō, gundai and
daikan

The shogun directly held lands in various parts of Japan. These
were known as bakufu chokkatsuchi; since the Meiji period,
the term tenryō has become synonymous. In addition to the
territory that Ieyasu held prior to the Battle of Sekigahara, this
included lands he gained in that battle and lands gained as a
result of the Summer and Winter Sieges of Osaka. By
the end of the seventeenth century, the shogun's landholdings had
reached four million koku. Such major cities as Nagasaki and Osaka,
and mines, including the Sadogold
mine, also fell into this category.

Rather than appointing a daimyo to head the holdings, the
shogunate placed administrators in charge. The titles of these
administrators included gundai, daikan, and
ongoku bugyō. This last category included the Osaka, Kyoto
and Sumpu
machibugyō, and the Nagasaki bugyō. The appointees were hatamoto.

Gaikoku
bugyō

The gaikoku bugyō were administrators
appointed between 1858 and 1868. They were charged with overseeing
trade and diplomatic relations with foreign countries, and were
based in the treaty
ports of Nagasaki and Kanagawa (Yokohama).

Late Tokugawa
Shogunate (1853-1867)

The Late Tokugawa Shogunate (Japanese: 幕末Bakumatsu) is the period between
1853 and 1867 during which Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy called sakoku and modernized from a
feudal
shogunate to the Meiji government. It is at the end of the
Edo period and
preceded the Meiji era. The major ideological/political factions
during this period were divided into the pro-imperialist Ishin
Shishi (nationalistpatriots) and the shogunate forces,
including the elite shinsengumi (newly selected corps)
swordsmen. Although these two groups were the most visible powers,
many other factions attempted to use the chaos of Bakumatsu to
seize personal power.[1]
Furthermore there were two other main driving forces for dissent;
first, growing resentment of tozama daimyo (or outside lords), and
second, growing anti-western sentiment following the arrival of
Perry. The first related to those lords who had fought against
Tokugawa forces at Sekigahara (in 1600 AD) and had from that
point on been exiled permanently from all powerful positions within
the shogunate. The second was to be expressed in the phrase sonnō jōi, or
"revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians". The turning point of
the Bakumatsu was during the Boshin War and the Battle of Toba-Fushimi when
pro-shogunate forces were defeated.[2]

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu (徳川幕府,Tokugawa bakufu?), and the Edo bakufu (江戸幕府,Edo bakufu?), was a feudal regime of Japan. It was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled from 1600 until 1868. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city of Edo, now Tokyo. The Tokugawa shogunate was abolished during the Meiji Restoration.